Abstract
Multi-legged robots working in challenging environments are often required to walk on fragile terrain that may collapse upon traversal. We propose a method to test the robot’s next foothold for collapses without endangering it. In this method, the robot’s body is posed in a favourable manner and the terrain is probed to test for collapses using its foot. We also present a study in identifying collapses by using the force profile and the foot tip displacement of the probing foot during probing.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Fletcher Talbot, James Brett, Pubudu Aravinda and Benjamin Tam for their support during this work.
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Tennakoon, E., Kottege, N., Peynot, T., Roberts, J. (2020). Safe Terrain Probing Method for Multi-legged Robots Operating on Brittle Surfaces. In: Xiao, J., Kröger, T., Khatib, O. (eds) Proceedings of the 2018 International Symposium on Experimental Robotics. ISER 2018. Springer Proceedings in Advanced Robotics, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33950-0_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33950-0_27
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